Asad Ahmed is a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal in Dubai, with more than 30 years of experience in banking, credit management and in formulating and managing strategic and operational changes in financial institutions. He brings in-depth knowledge of strategy formulation and implementation, performance improvement initiatives and change management programs. He has held various senior management positions in the Middle East, Africa and Canada Before joining A&M, he worked as a managing director with Gulf African Bank (Kenya), the largest Sharia compliant bank in East Africa. During his tenure, the bank saw a 154 percent increase in YOY profitability, successful implementation of a three-year strategy and major advances in the risk and compliance environment. Previously he was at National Bank of Fujairah, last serving as General Manager. He oversaw bank operations and was responsible for extending the service offerings, branch / ATM network, strengthening corporate governance (audit, compliance, KYC) and setting up the bank for Basel 2 Implementation. During his tenure, the bank achieved a 35 percent per-annum growth in net profits for four consecutive years.Earlier, Mr. Ahmed worked for nine years with Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (Toronto), co-leading a team to successfully setup new lines of business and increase non-traditional lending to intellectual property based business. He also developed a mezzanine finance program and two other quasi-equity funds, and served on their credit committees. A Canadian national, Mr. Ahmed earned an MBA from the Institute of Business Administration (Karachi, Pakistan). He is also a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in the U.S., a Certified Credit Professional (CCP) from the Credit Institute of Canada, and a Fellow of the Institute of Canadian Bankers (FICB). In the past, he has served on the Governing Council of the Kenya Bankers Association, and the Board of Nairobi Hospice. He has been a frequent speaker at Islamic Finance conferences, and has taught at the Executive MBA program at the SP Jain Centre of Management, Dubai.

Business Administration